The Herd (Working Title, may change)
by Leonaria Dragonbane
Summary: One hundred years after the events of Alcatraz Island, the entire landscape of the country has changed. Mutants are not only outlawed, but identified early – and often, and the top ten thousand are slated for the Arena, an annual bloodbath where the top prize is to live…if they can defeat the champion of the Arena – The Animal.
1. Chapter 1

The Herd

(Working Title) This was inspired by the Hunger Games trilogy. I apologize in advance if that offends anyone, but hey I just read the books for the first time.

One hundred years after the events of Alcatraz Island, the entire landscape of the country has changed. Mutants are not only outlawed, but identified early – and often, and the top ten thousand are slated for the Arena, an annual bloodbath where the top prize is to live…if they can defeat the champion of the Arena – The Animal.

Chapter 1 – The Culling

He watched the flow of traffic, both human and vehicular through the electrified bars of his luxury apartment high above what had once been a small Midwestern town, but now was the thriving, if oppressive, seat of the Theocrat; a shadowy figure that ruled the county with soft words of praise and an iron fist of fear. He couldn't see it, but down below him was the dusty blood-soaked floor of the arena, his bane and the reason for his continued existence. The holiday traffic of people back and forth, brightly dressed, and full of a false cheer nauseated him.

He'd never liked the holidays in the first place, and with the Culling happening in two days, he could smell the overriding fear wafting up to him from the street below. He turned from the window and dropped onto the buckskin sofa, feet out on the table as his publicist listed the order of events for the Culling.

"Monday is your photo shoot; we want new pictures for this year." He just growled and nodded. They always ran photos in all the newspapers. "Tuesday you will interview with all the major media networks."

"Can't they just use the same footage from last year?" He growled.

"NO." She glared at him. She was his fifth publicist in three years. All the others quit claimed he was impossible to work with.

This one at least had the guts to look him in the eye.

"You will do the interviews, or we'll put you back in the cell under the arena for a year." He shrugged. It really didn't matter to him, a cage was a cage. He had to admit, he liked to be comfortable, and his apartment was beyond that. He also had his pick of the frails, and the only rule was they had to be alive in the morning. He only killed in the arena.

"On Friday, once the Culls have been identified, you will tour the dungeons, in your fighting harness, and I don't have to tell you to be intimidating. The event will be Saturday morning, and is expected to last all day. The schedule has been changed this year. They Culls will be put in together at first to narrow down the field.

"You're actually expecting that many Culls? There's that many carriers of the X-Gene left?" That surprised him. Over the last ten years he'd killed hundreds of thousands, mostly whelps and cubs, they tested them starting at the age of twelve and into adulthood. Even he had nightmares about the whelp's faces, begging him to help them, as he gave them the only help he could, a quick and relatively painless death.

"No, to be honest; we haven't had a true positive for almost three years." He growled. He'd been killing normal cubs, not even true mutants, but just normal children, for no real reason.

"WHY!?" He roared at her. She smirked that damned irritating smirk of hers that said she'd been playing him for a fool.

"It keeps the population under control and loyal. If you think your child will be taken, put in the arena with "The Animal" to be slaughtered, or on your better years when the survivors of the first rush are female, raped and slaughtered, you don't think about things like rebellion, or how things used to be when the Constitution was more than just an old moldy historical document, now do you?"

He was actually shaking with rage. He had to perform, had to keep the arena bloody, the first three years after his capture had been pure hell. He'd begged for death many times during those years. He hadn't thought anything could break him, thought he'd been through everything a human could thing of, and a few twisted mutants too, over the last century or so, but the Theocrat's torturers were a new breed. They'd broken even him.

The first year he'd agreed to the arena he'd been thrown in with all the rest, in a free for all, fought to be the last man standing and crowned Champion. Every year since, the whelps were given one hope, kill him, and be crowned Champion, it was the only hope any of them had, and going against him, it was a completely false one.

"So get some sleep, you have a big week ahead of you." She smiled. "Oh, just to make sure you're in true fighting form, you're restricted to one female a night, and no bruising or major injuries, we want you not only ready to fight and kill, but frustrated too, the ratings are through the roof when you get to rape little girls on screen." She pushed a buzzer on the solid steel door, and it opened. He clenched his fists as she walked out. He waited for the buzzing of the electricity through the steel before he let out a primal roar of rage.

XXXXXX

Andrea looked up, the ear bud tucked into her ear. White fluffy clouds passed overhead and she could feel the warm sun on her cheek.

"So anyway, Lance asked me to the dance next week, but, you know with the Testers coming this week, I told him I'd go, if we're both still here."

"I thought you hated Lance?" Andrea said as she looked at the person sharing the ear buds. Megan, her best friend since first grade was twisting a ring of fire through her fingers. "Don't DO that." Andrea hissed.

"I do, but if I survive the test again this year, like I did last year, then I'd even kiss him." Megan said.

"Do you want to get caught?" Andrea hissed.

"I think it would be better than someone else being taken, someone we know doesn't deserve it." Megan extinguished the flames in her hand. Andrea just nodded. The two of them had the biggest, and worst secret of all, they were mutants - active live mutants -and had survived the last two years of testing without being caught.

Andrea had just turned eighteen, and graduation was only a few months away. The unseasonably warm December day was suddenly as cold as frost. She slipped the eight inch talons from under her nails and looked at them. They weren't the only sign, just the most obvious, if she used them.

The old music player switched songs, an old, hard beat and the screaming lyrics of a song about a girl who 'fucked so good' came on, and they jumped. She knew they were going to have to stash the music player and its banned music for the afternoon. Her sister would be home soon and the little Theocrat in Training would be sniffing for anything against the Doctrine of Purity of Thought.

"We'd better get down and start helping mom with dinner." Andrea said. "At least your mom is out of town, and you can stay with us." Actually the last four years it had been the same. Megan's mother took a trip every year during the Testing. No one knew where she went, and considering how hard it was to get travel permits this time of year, it must be important. Megan usually stayed from the Friday before testing until after the close of the Arena Games.

Andrea hated the games, hated watching, but she knew that the tracker in the television recorded every person watching, and anyone who missed the live broadcast had to watch not only the recorded version, plus all the replays and highlights broadcast the week after, but also attend a re-education class and spend three days with a Church of Humanity priest to remind them why the games were so important.

Andrea had been sick last year, and had to spend the three days at the church. She could still hear the words of the Priest.

_The Games exist to remind us that Humanity is the true vision of God. God made Man in his own image. Anything that alters God's image or plan is an abomination, as evil as the Deceiver himself, Satan. Mutants are the Devil's attempt to destroy the perfection of Man. An evil seed planted deep in the Map of God's Plan, our genes. It was the work of the Theocrat, and his scientists who gave us the means of detecting this seed, ferreting it out, and destroying those who carry it. You cannot feel sympathy for them; you cannot see them as Human Beings. They are not, they are abominations to be destroyed by one of their own, The Animal, for that is all they are._

She felt another chill down her spine as she followed Megan down the ladder to the ground. The roof was really the only place she felt safe, it had a terrace with a wall around it, couldn't be seen from the ground or any of the other houses around. Only someone flying over could see them, and during testing week, all flights, except government sanctioned ones were grounded.

Her mother was in the kitchen and the two girls quickly asked what they could do to help. The music player was stashed behind a loose brick in the wall, and no one was the wiser.

"Are you girls ready for the Testing this week?" Andrea's mother asked.

"As ready as we can be." Megan answered, sounding a little down. Andrea elbowed her and glanced at the eight year old walking in the front door. "I'm just missing Mom." Megan quickly recovered.

Nothing was safe when Essie was in the house. She would slink around, eavesdrop on any conversation, go through closets, drawers, and even guest's luggage to look for anything that might look remotely suspicious. Last year, Andrea's dad nearly lost his job because Essie accused his boss of harboring a carrier. It took every bit of string pulling her mother, a former Tester, could do to convince them that it was just the wild imagination of a child.

"Good afternoon, little bit. How was your Theocracy class?" Andrea's mom asked.

"Okay. We were discussing the Testing, and why it has to happen, even though we couldn't have that many carriers left. Even one carrier, or worse an active Mutant could be so dangerous, that we can't even let the idea that they can exist live." Essie had an almost feverish, fanatical look in her eye. Andrea smiled, and pretended to listen. She'd gone through the same classes at that age, but she'd never felt the devotion her sister had.

Andrea had no doubt that if her sister suspected she actually was a Mutant, she'd turn her in, and their whole family.

Her dad came in from work and the family sat down to dinner. The Meal Prayer was said. "God bless this food we are about to receive, bless it to the nourishment of our bodies, bless our home, bless our family, keep us safe and pure in your plan, in the name of your Human Son, Amen."

There wasn't a whole lot of conversation as they ate; Theocratic law insisted that meal time was to consume the food necessary to nourish the body, not the mind, and that conversation was not necessary. Each person focused on their plate, without looking at the others at the table, and when the food was consumed; each took their plate to the trash and scraped it, then stacked it neatly on the counter next to the sink.

After dinner was Family Contemplation time and Andrea's father dutifully pulled out the family's Theocratic Bible and began to read. "And God created Humans in his own image, man and woman he created them both." They sat quietly for the proscribed twenty minutes, contemplating the verse read. Every family in every house in every town was doing the exact same thing, under penalty of arrest and fines.

The Laws of Theocracy had to be obeyed, with no exceptions. If you were ill, you still had to have your Contemplation time. If you were sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise unable to read the verse for the day yourself, then someone was required to read it for you.

There were all sorts of laws controlling every part of your day. The Cleansing Laws dictated how, when and where you could bathe, The Laws of Education dictated when, and how children were educated, there were stiff fines for parents who violated the laws and tried to educate children at home. There were even laws on when and how a family could add children; Andrea knew her parents were coming up on a required attempt at conceiving a son, since they'd only had girls so far.

Andrea and Megan went upstairs, and closed the door to Andrea's room. It wouldn't matter; they couldn't discuss anything important anyway. They played around until the nightly required music program; tonight's being Gregorian Chants from the Middle Ages. Andrea cringed through the hour, and the girls covered up and turned out the lights at curfew.

Neither one of them slept. They both had reasons for the room to smell like fear. Andrea waited until she could hear Essie's snores.

"So I guess we'll have to change our pact." She said softly.

"Yep. Quick and painless for me." Megan said with a sob. "I still haven't figured out how we're going to get past that healing of yours to be able to kill you before he catches either of us."

"We don't have a whole lot of time." Andrea said back. "But, I promise, quick and painless for you."

The next morning the girls dressed quickly and were downstairs for breakfast and the mandatory departure prayer from Andrea's parents before her dad left for work. Women stayed home, and Andrea knew it drove her mother crazy sometimes, not to be able to work anymore, but she kept herself busy at home.

Andrea didn't want to get married, she wanted to be able to work and support herself for a while first. The mandatory marriage age was twenty five, the same as the age limit for the Testing. Her mother had Tested until she met and married her father, and then, dutifully given up her career and given birth to Andrea almost exactly nine months to the day.

The morning at school was uneventful, and the Testing crew wasn't going to get there until Wednesday, so they had a few days to breathe. Andrea's stomach bothered her all day, but she tried to pass it off.

By the time the girls got home from school, she felt better. Her mom was waiting with their after school snack, the only time they really got to eat and talk, and their prescribed round of nutritional supplements. Andrea noticed a new pill, a darker red than the rest.

"New supplements?"

"They changed the casing on one of the pills." Her mother said. Andrea looked at her. Why the hell was her mother lying?

Her mother looked back at her, then gave a slumped shrug and nodded to the laundry room. If they kept their voices low, and the dryer running, they could have a mostly private conversation, especially when Essie wasn't home.

"What the hell…" Andrea started when the dryer was running and the door partially closed. Megan looked at both of them in confusion.

"I ran out of the other casings." Her mother said softly. "It's the same pill I've given you since you were six…it hides the X-Gene from the testing equipment." Andrea's jaw dropped in shock.

"You mean you've KNOWN!?"

"Yes, your father and both are class two ferals. We can hide it, our healing isn't enough to get anyone's attention, but last year when you broke your ankle, and reset it when you got home, I knew you were far more powerful than either of us."

"I faked that sprain for six weeks."

"Then you know about me, too, Mrs. Wilson?" Megan asked quietly.

"Yes, your mother's had you stay with us so I could hide yours as well. She goes to stay with your grandmother, who is the great grand daughter of a powerful mutant named Pyro." Andrea's mom pulled herself up onto the top of the dryer to sit. "I guess its time for the whole story."

"Yes!" Andrea said, folding her arms across her chest. "And fast before the little snitch gets home."

"That little snitch will probably be as powerful as you when she develops." Her mom said, and then settled in to her 'storytelling' mode.

"Your father and I have been a part of the rebellion for years. We've slipped as many mutants out to the recovery parties as we could for years. What we do is dangerous, but it has saved thousands of lives, us and others like us, have managed to move most true mutants out of the Theocrat's clutches."

"But, if there aren't that many, why do we still have so many test positive?" Megan asked.

"Because the Theocrat, the year I stopped Testing, ordered that all the Testers were to be set to random. There hasn't been a real Mutant in the Arena for almost ten years, with the exception of Victor."

"Victor?" Both girls asked.

"Victor, The Animal. He's a friend, and believe it or not, is serving a purpose in there, one that the rebellion needs desperately." She flipped the control on the dryer from gentle cycle to regular, and the thumping of the wet clothes grew louder. "Victor is in place to try to rescue a certain mutant that is being held by the Theocrat. She was captured about fifteen years ago, and he's the only person she'd truly trust to rescue her."

"Why?" Andrea asked, caught up in the story.

"Because at some point they were lovers; they even have at least one child together, and there were rumors of another, years ago. They're both well over two centuries old, maybe older, Victor's at least three hundred."

"Why so old?" Megan asked.

"They both have at least a class four healing ability, something I think at least one of my daughters has as well." Andrea swallowed. Immortality that was a sobering thought. If she was Tested, and positive, she wouldn't die, just be tortured until she was insane, perhaps even longer, but she didn't think she'd care after that.

Andrea heard the front door open, and Essie's footsteps. She grabbed a shirt from a pile of laundry that needed folding. Megan did too and they quickly folded enough to look like they'd been helping.

"Mom, I'm home." Essie said as she opened the door.

"Here, grab a basket." Andrea said, thrusting one at her.

"Ewww, laundry day." Essie said, but started to fold.

Andrea hoped Essie wasn't developing the heightened hearing, or she'd be able to tell that Andrea's heart was racing.

The two older girls took the basket of Andrea's clothes to her room to put away, and then used their scheduled time to take turns cleaning up before dinner. Bathing in the morning was a sin, as was bathing before bed. Bathing in the afternoon, before dinner was considered the least sinful time, and was believed to prevent self-harm by boys, and prevent lustful thoughts in both genders. Hot water wasn't allowed, only luke warm, unless prescribed by a doctor, and then only for the period allowed.

Both girls quickly dressed in clean 'home clothes' a simple pair of drawstring pajama pants and a pull over top after their baths. They took turns brushing their teeth and drying their hair in the small mirror allowed in bathrooms. No other mirror was allowed in a home, vanity was a sin and avoided at all cost.

They hurried downstairs and helped get dinner on the table. They had so few moments to think, but Andrea had suspected for a while that the Theocrat planned it that way; the less time that wasn't strictly controlled, the less time a person had to think about just how bad things were in life.

Andrea had heard rumors, that other countries weren't like here, that there were places in the world where people could still think and speak for themselves without being controlled every moment of every day. Someday, maybe she'd go there, and maybe they'd know how their country had turned from the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave" into a place where freedom was killed before the seed could even be planted.

She shook her head. What was she thinking; her only future lay in the Arena. There wasn't a chance she'd pass the Testing this year. She knew it in her gut. She just had to figure out the best way to use it, the best way to try to save as many people as possible. The last few years, the Testing had lead to Cullings of hundreds of thousands of children. Usually only ten thousand were allowed into the Arena, the rest were suffocated by gas and their bodies burned and destroyed, ashes not even returned to the families.

Families gave up their children, in the one place they were supposed to be safe – school. The Testers came, they pricked a finger, and somehow, enough were picked, that no family was unaffected by it. If a family was lucky enough to have a child picked to go to the Arena, they at least KNEW what happened, they had to watch it. Andrea wasn't sure what was worse. Knowing – or not.

She could feel something lurking in the back of her mind, something important, but she just wasn't ready to face it, not yet. She had another day and a half, Testing was scheduled right after lunch on Wednesday, why they couldn't do it before lunch she didn't know. Everyone was so nervous; they didn't eat much and ended up hungry before the end of the day, and if they were selected, most of them lost their lunch on the floor anyway.

The forced silence of the meal, and the contemplation time just gave her time for everything to swirl around, increasing her confusion. By the time curfew came, she was ready to close he eyes and shut out the world to sleep.

XXXXXXXXX

The photo shoot sucked, standing in different poses in his Arena Harness, waiting for them to tell him he could move while they snapped pictures. The woman that night hadn't even been given him the satisfaction of an orgasm. She was too pliant and submissive, he could smell drugs in her system, and that was always a big turn off. The interviews were interesting, but he knew what would happen if he didn't stick to the script they gave him. And still no sign of Mystique. He hoped she'd be in one of the Culls, for him to kill, but for some reason she was being kept secretly. He'd been surprised, when they'd first captured him. They'd been looking for him specifically.

Finally he turned off the light. He didn't even want to bother with a frail, not tonight. Somehow he had to get a message out tomorrow. Certain children were being targeted; he'd figured that out during the interviews. Somehow, someone in the government had figured out which families were descended from known mutants, and were targeting those children this year. The Theocrat must have problems, to so blatantly target such a small population. Maybe the rebellion was making a difference, this time.

He tried to remember how the country had changed. It started with his idiot son, Graydon, becoming president. No one expected his blatant bids for power, executive order after executive order. First it was gun control, for the safety of the children, then national control over nutrition, to fight a national epidemic. In the eight years Graydon was president, there were very few of the basic rights left to the public.

When it came time for a new election, Graydon pulled a strategic move, he died. Victor had actually grinned at his son's televised corpse. His grandson ran for president that year, Graydon the second, and won, and suddenly he realized his offspring would never be sane. The son continued the father's work until, before the end of his second term, he managed to get himself declared Theocrat for life, and there'd been five other generations since.

It was at that point that Victor and most Mutants made a beeline OUT of the country. The persecution of Mutants started not long after, and many old friends were rounded up. At first they weren't killed, just imprisoned, even exiled. It took a good fifty years before the surviving adults were executed. Twenty years ago, they'd started the screenings, the Testing as they called it. At first it was just to catch those just becoming active, and then, those who carried the gene without it activating. He'd never really figured out that part, but he was beginning to see his publicist was right. They didn't really care if they caught mutants; it was to keep the population under control.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The Arena

Andrea looked at the long line at the testing station. As usual, it was lunch time, and she had no appetite. She knew even with the pill her mother gave her this morning, she would be chosen. After Essie was asleep last night, Andrea came up with her plan.

_"Mom, you and dad need to get out. Take Megan with you. Any other suspicion on us and they'll arrest you both, and then Essie will be in a government home when hers starts. Do you want that?  
_

"_No, but we have another job here, not just taking care of you girls." Her mother said, hissing in the cool night air on the roof terrace._

"_Mom, Essie will compromise you, especially if I'm positive tomorrow." Andrea said._

"_She's right, Elaine, it is time for us to get back…" Andrea's father said._

"_And take Megan. She can't heal, he'll rape and kill her in there." Andrea said. Her father nodded._

"_Not you too, Gene," Elaine said. "I can't give up one daughter to save the other."_

"_Mom…I've thought this through. One, I'm like him, he can't kill me." Andrea said, ticking points off on her fingers. "Two, you said he's a friend, I'll let him know who I am. Three…."_

"_NO!" her parents shouted in unison._

"_Why not, you said he's a friend."_

_Elaine looked at her feet on the floor. "Because, when you were born I sent your DNA back with one of the rescue teams. I wanted you tested against other known mutants. It is hard for us with Feral Mutations to find our mates. Gene and I didn't know each other when we both infiltrated, we met when I Tested him. I covered for his mutation, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to hide much longer. He tracked me down by scent, and our mating instincts went into overdrive. I'm not exactly as young as you think I am, me or your dad."_

"_Well how old are you?" Andrea asked?_

"_I'm almost eighty." Her father said. "I was born during the Human Mutant war." _

"_I'm one hundred and twelve." Her mother said. "I was actually one of the last students at Xavier's School for Gifted Youth."_

"_But you said you were both class two?"_

"_We are, we have healing factors, and they just work much slower than the class fours and fives." Her mother said. "We still have an expanded life span."_

"_Okay, what about that DNA, why is that a big deal?"_

"_But you said you were both class two?"_

"_We are, we have healing factors, and they just work much slower than the class fours and fives." Her mother said._

"_The only results I got back was one word, and three people died to get it to me." Elaine said, "That word was Creed."_

"_What does that mean?"_

"_It means you have a ninety eight percent chance of being his mate." Gene said, glaring at his wife. "And you didn't fucking tell me…" His subdued roar made them all jump, and look around to see if he'd been heard._

"_Because you'd react like this." Elaine said to her husband. "It doesn't matter, his mutation is so far gone there's no real hope to save him, now, anyway."_

"_Save him?" Andrea asked._

"_The Feral mutation never stops evolving. It pushes the body more and more toward the animal side, the longer the mutant is alive. James, Victor's brother, had his progression arrested with the bonding of metal onto his skeleton, and then subsequent discovery of his mate a few decades later, cemented his mutation at a sane and controllable level."_

"_The stronger the mutation, the faster the progression goes. Your father and I probably have another three to five centuries before we reach the point Victor's at now." _

"_You mean, I'm his mate, but he won't know it, because he's too far gone in the mutation?"_

"_Yes. Unless he's found another way to arrest the development, but watching him over the last few years in the arena, I don't see how he has any control left." Elaine said, sadly. "We're all going to miss him, but somehow, someone is going to have to put him down, or in a cage he can never get out of, and soon."_

"_Mom, I'm going into that arena, I don't see how I can prevent it. The pill you gave us, the one that you said hides the X-Gene, I don't think it is going to do any good." Andrea said. "I'm going to have to go in there with him, maybe being his mate will save my ass."_

"_Young lady…" Gene started._

"_Don't." She glared at her father. "I'm legally an adult, and this is what we ARE going to do." She growled, and watched the blood drain from her father's face. He was actually afraid of her._

"_You two are going to get Megan, sedate Essie, and get all four of you out of here. I'm going to rip the place apart. Mom, I'm going to need you to gather enough blood from everyone to make it look like a wild animal went nuts in here." She said firmly. Elaine tried to protest, but Andrea silenced her with a glare. _

"_I'll create a distraction at the Testing station so that they won't immediately go looking for my family or friends, and when they get here there'll be blood everywhere and it will look like I dragged bodies off into the woods to dispose of them. They'll be tied up with searching for bodies for at least two days, that's long enough for me to be selected for the Arena."_

"_But once you're in there…" Elaine started._

"_Elaine, shut up and look at your daughter's eyes instead of your feet." Her father growled._

_Andrea knew what he was talking about, adrenaline was flowing fast and heavy through her veins and she knew her eyes were pitch black._

"_You two will get the others out, and not come back. Somehow, I'm going to hook up with Victor, and see if we can figure out a way to get him out too. I'll be with him."_

"_He won't go, he hasn't found Mystique yet." Elaine said._

"_Well, maybe he will just have to fail at that, at least this time. And who the hell is Mystique?"_

"_The woman I told you about, the one he came here to rescue in the first place." Gene said. "Another good friend and one who is sorely missed."_

"_Well shit, I'll have to work that plan out when I come to it." Andrea said slowly._

"_You are throwing your life away, baby." Elaine said._

"_Mom, you said it, strong mutations evolve faster, but I'm only eighteen, I've got centuries to get out, not as long as you, but if it takes three months or three centuries, I will get out." Andrea said with a determination that she didn't recognize. It was like a part of her that had been asleep was suddenly awake, aware, and ready to do what had to be done._

_Her mother just nodded, and the three of them slipped down from the roof. Andrea stopped to pick up her music player with the banned music on it. If she had to go and fight for her life, she was going to have a damned good soundtrack to listen to while she did._

The rest of the plan hadn't taken long to put in place. Her mother actually had a few bags of blood from each of them except Megan, something she'd done since the girls were little so that if they had to go to a doctor, they'd have their own blood to avoid testing. It didn't take long to wake Megan up and draw a pint of her blood as well.

It was a good thing Essie wasn't active yet, the sedatives worked perfectly, and she wouldn't even know they'd left until she woke up in some safe haven for Mutants, then they would have to work on the undoing all the Theocrat's priests brainwashing.

She watched as the line shortened the others around her hanging back, afraid, as they watched nearly fifty of their friends rounded up in the transport area and forcibly loaded onto the transport bus. What she'd always questioned, was why those who tested positive just meekly followed along, walking to their own prison – and eventual death – without even a token of a fight.

Well not today, the house was ready, Megan and Essie had been excused from school by a recording her mother made, claiming they'd come down with the flu. When the police went to the house they'd find what looked like a murder scene, with blood trails going out the back and into the nearby woods. She'd used sandbags that were close approximations of the weights needed, and smeared them with blood to make the drag marks. She'd opened the sand into the creek and dumped it out, making sure it quickly moved down stream in the fast current. The bags – she'd dumped them under a rockslide she created. That way even if they used dogs, they'd have to dig for a couple days to find they'd been tricked.

The line was down to only one or two people, and she knew she had to act soon; she didn't want to put any more in danger than she had to, and the next lunch group would be coming to the cafeteria in about five minutes. The guards were relaxed, too relaxed. They'd given up being alert, not expecting any threat. She let herself have a closed-lipped grin. They were easy prey.

She wasn't sure when she'd started thinking in terms of prey and predator, but, with the adrenaline running through her, she was very much ready to execute the next stage in her plan.

She stood up and carried her half empty lunch tray to the cleaning station, she stretched, her arms up over her head, and then, with a steady stride, sauntered over to the Testing station.

"Name."

"Andrea Wilson." She said, hands lazily hanging at her side.

"I need a finger." The Tester said. Andrea didn't even smile as she extended only her middle finger at the woman. She didn't flinch at the small prick, but let out an almost chuckle as the woman tried to get any blood out of it.

"Let me try a new needle." She said. Andrea just shrugged.

The next prick was deeper, and actually beaded a small red ruby of blood. Andrea waited for the Tester. The woman shook her head, confused, and then tried to get another drop of blood out of Andrea's finger.

"This can't be right." The woman said.

"Problem." Andrea said, voice dripping sarcasm.

"I've never had a response like this." The woman said.

"What, never seen the real thing before…" Andrea said, very slowly extending her claws, lips drawn back in a feral grin, she knew her fangs were gleaming in the florescent light of the cafeteria, and here eyes were pure black.

Her voice was low as the woman looked up at her. "You…you're…GUARDS!" The woman screamed.

"Now see, that hurt my ears." Andrea said, claws slashing across the woman's throat, cutting her larynx and stopping the scream. She watched, almost fascinated as a pool of blood formed on the desk where the woman's head had dropped.

She was grabbed by two guards, but she ripped her arms out of their grasp, they gasped, but only for a second as her claws rammed home, puncturing both their hearts. She held on for a few seconds until she felt the last stuttering beat of their hearts and then dropped the bodies at her feet. The other tester came at her, a long piece of wood in his hands. He swung it like a baseball bat at her head and she caught it easily, pulling on it until he was in range of her claws, and ripped his throat out as well.

"Idiots." She growled, her voice's rumble startling her.

"It's a Mutant!" Someone yelled. She grinned, no more hiding, not now. She felt the blood from the second Tester as he bled out.

"Well this outfit's a total loss." She said, grinning. "Bloodstains won't come out."

Six more guards rushed into the cafeteria, she grinned at them. They had guns, but the bullets only caused momentary pain, and then light pings as they fell to the floor, her body pushing them out and healing. One of them had a long noose on a pole, the type they used to catch rabid dogs. She grinned even wider. She rushed them, claws out, and managed to take out two more, and coating herself with their blood in the process. She actually had her mouth open, trying to catch drops of blood as the last four rushed her. She felt the noose drop around her neck, but she ignored it. The last two, she took out with her toe claws that had ripped holes in her sneakers. She let the last two drag her to the transport and chain her to the wall.

There was no way in hell she wasn't going to be in the Arena group now.

XXXXXXXXXXX

He walked among the frightened cubs, flinching at the stark terror he smelled, one room after another. They'd culled almost two hundred and fifty thousand this year. Only ten thousand would make it to the arena, the rest would be gassed. He shook his head. The Theocrat had to be a mad man. This was insane.

He thought back to another mentally disturbed leader of a nation and wondered if Hitler would have eventually created an Arena as well, if left unchecked. He had to get out of here. Myst wasn't anywhere to be found, and he'd been in this prison too long. After this event he was cutting himself loose…and the first tie was going to be that damned publicist.

He was thinking about the hot blood dripping from his hands, when he realized he wasn't imagining the smell. In the back of the room chained tightly to the wall, and growling like a cornered she-cat, was the source of the smell. It was covered in drying blood, so thick he wouldn't have known it was female if he hadn't already identified her by smell.

He looked into her black eyes and grinned, giving the cameras what they wanted, but down deep, where he hid the things he didn't want to face, he was trembling. That was one angry feral, chained up there, and he knew she couldn't wait to add his blood to the pool at her feet.

Her teeth suddenly appeared stark white against the reddish brown stains on her face. She grinned at him, and he felt a stab of…discontent, he didn't know who she was, but he knew she would be a challenge tomorrow.

He let the guards lead him away, but looked back…she was still watching him. Where the hell did she come from? How the hell did they catch her? And why the hell was his neck itching, right in the spot where neck meets shoulder? It was like he could feel her fangs sinking in, and he gave a slight shudder…and not of fear. He was definitely going to have to use a frail tonight, or he'd be jacking off in the Arena tomorrow every time he caught her scent.

XXXXXXXXXXX

She'd seen him last night, and he'd seen her. More than that, his scent was driving her crazy. There was no way in hell she would be able to kill him. The only hope she had was the surge of lust she'd smelled as he walked out of sight.

She was in another cell, shackled to a column and surrounded by thousands of others. She could smell three or four true carriers, and one other full blown mutant in the room, but the rest were all just normal kids. She knew the bloodbath would start soon, and made her decision. She knew how she was going to play this, as the floor below them began to rise. Her column was near the end of the section, and slightly elevated from the floor. Everyone could see her, and she wasn't hiding a thing. Claws, out. Fangs, flashing. Eyes, black. Murder and mayhem the only things on her mind.

She struggled to control the animal part of her. She'd figured out that was what had finally woken up, and it wanted more blood. She'd get it, too, but not until Andrea was ready to let it take over again. Right now, she had to get through all these kids, to be in the final one hundred that The Animal would get to fight.

The huge door over their heads opened up, revealing the crowded stadium, a converted football field, she was at one end, and, as the floor locked into place, she could see him sitting on the other end, glaring at the field of prey below him.

"Culls – you are here to die." The announcer said. "You are not human, you are not made in God's image, and your only salvation is death. You may pray for Merciful God to have mercy on you, but that is no hope. You will burn in the fires of Hell forever…unless you can defeat the undefeated Champion of the Arena – The Animal."

He stood, arms above his head, turning to face the crowd, the cheers and jeers made her nauseous. They hated him, saw him as the killer of their children, and yet, couldn't help betting on how long their own children would last. They were hypocrites, the worst kind, and she wanted to rip them limb from limb.

She felt the chains release, her hands and feet now free to claw through the sea of bodies to challenge him.

Suddenly, a girl to her left turned to her.

"Please, make it quick and painless." The girl said. Andrea was shocked, seeing her swollen belly.

"How far along are you?" She said.

"It doesn't matter, now. Please kill us quickly. He'd cut the baby from me and make me watch it die first. Just make it quick and painless." The girl dropped to her knees, one hand clinging to Andrea's clawed paw.

"Please…" Came another soft voice to her left. A boy and girl, clinging to each other dropped to their knees to her right. "We just want to go together. Please, quick and painless." She trembled.

In front of her two girls, obviously sisters dropped to their knees. "Kill my sister first," the oldest said, as they clung together. The youngest eyes were full of tears. "Don't let it hurt."

What began as a few, turned into a wave, thousands turned to her, dropping to their knees, begging her for the mercy they knew they wouldn't get anywhere else. She slowly nodded, and then found her voice.

"Any who want _mercy_ - any who just want a painless way out of this _Hell_; all you have to do is ask." She shouted, grabbing the pregnant girl's hand and dropping it from her clawed paw. She looked into the girl's eyes, tears flowing down her face as she leaned down and whispered, "Are you sure."

The girl looked up at her. "Even if somehow they took pity on me, they'd kill us both. I don't want her to feel any pain."

Andrea nodded, and put one clawed hand under the girl's chin. She took a deep breath and with a sudden sharp snap, watched as life drained from the girl's eyes. She let the body drop to the ground, and then turned to the couple. They kissed each other one last time then turned away, so they wouldn't see her. She managed to get a hand under each chin, and with the same soft snap, let them drop to the ground, hands still linked. The sisters, she did the same way, knowing neither one wanted to watch the other die.

Most of the morning she spent in whispered goodbyes. Some of them were her schoolmates, a few friends she'd known for years. By the time the noon sun was high, she had a wide swath of bodies behind her, and only three hundred or so standing on their feet, in defiance.

As she snapped the last neck of the last person kneeling in front of her, and looked at the defiant ones. They were all older, at least eighteen, and several of them looked like they'd played heavy sports. Well muscled, defiant, and reeking of pure terror. She had no idea how she looked to them, and frankly didn't care. They were in her way, and she wasn't going to grant any more mercy.

Three of them rushed her as she dropped into what felt like a fighting crouch. She grinned at them, and then let the animal inside her take complete control. It was like she was a spectator in her own body, as it shifted into a better balanced position, and began blocking blows, ripping through flesh with her claws, and breaking skulls and other bones, narrowing down the field.

The sound of the gong, indicating the field had been narrowed down to one hundred survivors, startled her. She stopped, they all did, the rules of the Arena ingrained on them almost since birth.

It was time to stop, eat and drink something, rest an hour or so, and then the real fight would begin. It was also the time the guards used to collect the dead and get them out of the way. Everyone gave her a wide berth as she grabbed something off of the food table that rose through the floor in the middle of the field. A bottle of water, and a sandwich, she curled up against one of the stone columns and turned her gaze to the end of the field. His eyes were on her, and she knew he was deciding how to deal with her.

She'd shown her abilities quite well, and knew he was calculating exactly how strong they were. She glared at the guards, their guns trained on the survivors, waiting for one of them to make an aggressive move. The meal was not allowed to be interrupted. Two years ago, one boy decided he wasn't through fighting when the gong sounded; the rumor was there were so many bullets in his body, that when they cremated him, the entire base of the ovens were a solid sheet of lead.

She wolfed down her sandwich and drained the water bottle before getting up, stretching and grabbing another from the table. For a last meal it wasn't bad, but since she didn't plan on it being her last meal, she was going to stay light. She still had a long afternoon ahead of her.

She'd just finished the second bottle of water when the gong sounded again, and the table slipped under the combat floor. She stood, watching, as The Animal made his slow way down the stairs to the floor. The crowd was deafening, but she thought she heard him say. "You're mine, Kitten."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The others looked at her then back at him, and scattered to the far corners of the arena to watch the Titans clash. He chuckled, like that would help them. He was saving the best for last.

He didn't bother running, or chasing them. She stood, leaning against her column, watching him. She was still coated in dried blood, with a layer of wet glistening over the dried. That had to itch like hell. He nodded at her, and gave her a wink. She glared back at him, but sheathed her claws and sat back down. She knew…and she was going to save her strength.

The groups of humans were no challenge, it was like cattle to the slaughter, taking them out in groups as they tried to ambush him, or one at a time as he stalked them to their hiding places. All the while he felt her eyes on him, never leaving him, and he suddenly felt like impressing her.

He slowed down his stalks, letting her see how silently he could move, killing those closest to her, the ones that would attack her if they could, stretching out the kills, showing her it wasn't just the blood, but that there was a beauty in death. He suddenly felt more alive than he had since his capture.

His body was on overdrive, a tingle under his skin constant from the racing adrenaline in his system. She just watched him, never giving any sign of approval or disapproval, as he cleared the detritus from their mating ground, and that was what it was, a mating ground.

He chuckled as he ripped one male's head from his shoulders, realizing exactly what he was doing. It was a feral mating dance, showing her he could provide, protect, and defend her lair, the cubs he would give her. Sabretooth reared his head and roared. He hadn't let the animal loose in years, maintaining strict control, the only way he could keep the madness at bay was to cage the animal, now it burst free, scenting the only thing it had wanted in a century…a mate.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

She watched the carnage in both awe and horror. He went from cold, calculating, to almost prancing, showing off, and then that roar…it chilled her to the bone, because she instinctively knew what it was…his challenge, submit or die.

She heard a noise to her left and turned her head a little. Out of the corner of her eye she caught three males trying to sneak up on her. She tried to control her animal a bit, let them get closer, but her animal wasn't buying it, besides, she had to answer the challenge.

She waited until they sprang their trap, and then she moved, swift and deadly, dropping two at her feet in one move. The third dropped to his knees, and whimpered.

"Please, kill me quick." He cried.

"I said no more mercy." She hissed back, as she slowly gutted him, her claws ripping through his abdominal wall.

"Ahhhhggggurgle" his high scream turned to the sound of liquid in the lungs of a dying person. She let out a low laugh, and then jumped, narrowly avoiding being caught by Him. She crouched on the top of the column and looked down.

He grinned up at her, and she took off running – well jumping from column top to column top, bouncing out of his way, not even looking back, and knowing he was pursuing her, kept moving in a random zigzag pattern. She knew it was futile, but she also knew, by his scent, it was what he wanted. To chase her down, to battle, to force her into submission to him; and she knew she would, submit, but only on her terms.

She bounced off of one of the steel walls of the arena and onto another column, this one wobbly as she landed. She quickly jumped again, and heard the roar of the stone collapse. SHIT! She thought, suddenly seeing his plan take shape.

She bounced quickly, on all fours trying to stay ahead, trying to stay out of reach, as behind her column after column dropped. She suddenly realized she had no where left to run.

"Give up, Kitten." He growled from the ground below her. "no place left to run."

She glared down at him, then jumped, right onto his shoulders and bounced out of reach before he could stop her. She ran, then through the tumbled stones, avoiding his reach over and over by keeping them between her and her pursuer.

She could feel his breath on her neck, the sudden pain of his claws swiping across her back as she narrowly missed being caught one last time. She knew this was it, and ran straight for the center of the field, where the area was clear, no stones, and no distractions. It was time to turn and fight.

Only fight wasn't in her game plan. She skidded to a halt on her knees, hands covering her ears, eyes gazing down on the blood stained sand. She waited; she could feel him, circling her, trying to figure out her strategy. The thing was, she didn't have one. From here on, it was all on him. Would he accept her plea for mercy, remote as that possibility was, or would he take her, right here, on national television, watched by every single person the Theocracy?

She could hear both their ragged breathing, in unison. She felt a strange tingle at the base of her neck, and let out an involuntary moan.

She felt his hand on one of hers, covering her ears. He lifted it away. "No mercy for you, Kitten, you're mine." He whispered, brushing her bloodstained hair away from her neck. "All mine." He growled as he brushed her skin with his tongue, wiping away fresh and dried blood from her skin.

His teeth sank deep, and she roared in response, her entire body surging with feeling, but not really pain. It was the most consuming feeling she'd ever had, raw and primitive. She wasn't even aware that he lifted her, her limbs straightening as he pulled her against his chest, claws sunk into her scalp and her ribs under her breasts, keeping her tight against him as his teeth worked in her neck.

She slumped against him as his head lifted from her, his triumphant roar spurring her to break free and turn. He grinned, her blood covering his face, she could smell the effect it had on him, and knew his stupid leather outfit was going to start chaffing as his semen dried within it. She felt the animal take over once more, springing on him in his triumph, her mouth closing down on his neck, her teeth grinding until they hit bone, then latching on as he tried to pull her off.

When she pulled her head away, she watched his skin heal, her teeth marks permanently in his flesh. She let out her own roar of triumph as he tossed her to the ground, and loomed over her.

"All yours…like hell. You're all MINE!" She roared back at him, laughing at the sudden confusion – and realization on his face.

She didn't even hear the announcer call it a tie. Didn't hear anything as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder; she'd done it, she'd survived and in the only way that the Theocracy would accept. As his mate; she wanted to be the fly in the room as they discussed the possibilities, him defending a pregnant her against the crowd in the Arena, how that would boost ratings. Pitting them to fight against each other, or making him rescue her in a deadly game of Take the Flag, she really didn't care. She was alive, and had a whole year to worry about what was next.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He threw her down on the floor of his staging room. She just looked at him, dazed for a moment.

"You stink, cub." He growled at her.

"And you don't, Asshole?" She snapped back.

He growled.

"You need to learn a few quick lessons." He snapped back. "One, do what they say, or you'll be scraping yourself off the floor of the torture chambers, and I mean that literally, they will make you clean up your own flesh from the floor."

She blanched. She thought this was it, safety, pampered luxury until the next Arena.

"Two, don't think they're not pissed as hell about this. They are, and are going to punish you for it." He growled low.

"And finally, get a fucking bath; you're covered in days old blood." He turned and started stripping out of his harness.

"My parents…" She started.

"Are dead, and you killed them, live with it." He growled.

"No…" she started as the door flew open and a blonde woman in a suit walked in the door. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun, the suit was tailored, but plain, and Andrea recognized her from the television, the publicist.

"Well, I'm going to have to see if I can salvage this mess." She snapped, glaring at Victor.

"Fuck you." He growled. "Some things are just instinct."

"Instinct? YOU fucking prick, what you did out there, that whole biting each other thing…we had to cut to commercial to prevent the country from seeing it. You KNOW that kind of thing is forbidden." She slapped him hard across the face.

"Yeah, like raping young kids is forbidden, but they sure love it when it happens." He growled back.

"Well, if you'd raped her, we could still sell it as a punishment for her demon heritage, but no, you had to have some kind of mutual love fest in the middle of the Arena. There is no way we can clean that up, it was way too erotic."

"I really don't give a shit." He said as he dropped the bottom of his harness, revealing his well muscled ass. Andrea just lay there, admiring. And all of that was now all hers.

She could feel his rage and something else, something he kept pushing away; suddenly she identified it, fear. He was fighting pure terror. She stopped breathing for a second. She was feeling HIM, inside her head. It wasn't telepathy, but there was definitely something more than just her own fear there.

"Cub, tone it down." He growled, glaring at her. "I don't need your shit on top of everything else."

He leaned down and picked her up again, over his shoulder, and she watched the carpet turn to tile and felt the steam in the air.

"If you're not gonna clean up on your own, I'll just have ta do it for ya." He set her down on the edge of something, and dug around in her front jeans pocket. "So that's what was diggin' inta me." He growled, pulling her music player and ear buds.

He set it on the counter, and then, with a grin she definitely classified as evil, gave her a push. She landed in deep scalding hot water, and came up sputtering at him.

"Either you scrub yourself down, or I'm cutting those clothes off and doing it for you." He growled. "I'd suggest doing it yourself."

He turned and walked back to the other room. She could hear raised voices as she stripped her stiff and blood-soaked clothes off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You know we can't allow you two to be together." His publicist said as he came into the prep room. He just growled at her and opened a couple drawers in a dresser and pulled out some drawstring sweat pants and a T-shirt. He walked back into the bathroom, and dumped them on a stool near the sink.

"Clean clothes when you're done." He growled. Her hair was pushed back, and he could see the red scar on her neck. He grinned for a second. She was a fine mate, able to defy even him. He dropped the smile.

He was going to have to move up the exit plans…and add one more to them. How the hell was he going to get both of them out safe – and alive?

He closed the bathroom door as he walked out. There was a sink in the prep room and he ran it full of hot water.

"Are you even listening to me?" The bitch demanded.

"Oh I'm listening, I'm just not acknowledging." He growled as he dug a handful of wash rags from under the sink. The dried blood from the battle was starting to itch.

"She will have to be…conditioned." The blonde started. "Then, we have to figure out the best way to market…to promote the two of you as a couple." He could almost see the gears turning in her robot like mind.

"You touch the cub; I'll rip your throat out." He growled.

"She can't just…" Blondie started again.

"I'm saying this one time, and you'd better realize I'm deadly serious." He didn't growl, and he could smell her fear. Sabretooth she could deal with, and usually did, but it was his rational side in charge now as he took a Ranger bath in the sink. "If you or anyone lays a hand on that cub, you'll see just how dangerous I really am."

"I'm not afraid…"

"Yes you are, don't lie." He growled back as he changed the water. He was regretting giving her the hot bath. "She stays with me. End of discussion."

"You know I can't approve that…"

"I don't give a shit." He growled.

"This isn't going to work…" she said, backing down.

"What you don't understand is, I don't give a SHIT!" He roared back at her. Her little yelp of fear would have had his cock twitching, this morning. Now he just scrubbed to get all the dried bodily fluids off.

This part of being mated he was going to hate. How the hell was he gonna have any fun with a cub for a mate, and a virgin at that. She had to be the most inexperienced frail he'd ever seen. The only thing that saved her ass out there was her feral taking control. That part was the toughest Hellcat he'd ever seen. He grinned. Hellcat was definitely an apt name for the cub.

At some point the bitch left, and he, after eight sinks full of water, finally felt clean enough to put on a pair of sweats and a tee himself. He sat on one of the couches and waited for her to venture out of the bathroom. He was going to give her five more minutes and then go after her, when the door slowly opened.

"Well…get out here." He growled. "Let me get a look at ya."

She just glared at him, and unwound the towel from her hair, dropping it on the carpet. Her hair was a chestnut brown, and long, dripping water onto the floor. She had dark eyes, brown he thought, when not consumed in feral black. Her face – was familiar, the way she stood, her movements.

"Elaine?" He asked. She sure as hell looked like the lower class feral.

"No, she's my mom." The cub said.

"You're Andrea?" He asked, suddenly aware that her scent really was familiar. He actually remembered her, she had to be, what, eighteen if that. The last time he saw her she'd been a damned whelp, not even on his radar as a person.

"Yeah. Mom told me she knew you – before." She said.

"Damn, how the hell…" rage and grief overtook him. Elaine had been a friend, and potential mate, until she'd found that damned class two Gene. The shit of it was Victor liked the lower class male too.

"They got…" She whispered.

"NO! Not here." He said. "We'll talk about it later." He said. Damned cub had caused the death of two of his friends, and he didn't want to hear about it while the cameras were still rolling.

He glared at her until she sat down across the room. Fucking cub, not even a tear for her dead family; there'd been another cub, another female, too, he remembered. She sat there fidgeting with her music player, and suddenly he felt tired. He hoped the guards would hurry up; he didn't want to go to sleep on camera. The idea that they'd laugh at his snoring was enough for him to wait until they were back in his apartment. The major thing he'd demanded about three years into this crap was his privacy in his own rooms.

The door slammed open and six guards filed in.

"Get up." One of them said, grabbing the cub by the arm. Victor growled, low. No one manhandled his mate but him.

"Leave me alone." She hissed back, claws out, eyes black again. She'd just calmed down too.

The guards backed up. Victor stood up and crossed the room. "Come on, cub, I'm hungry and the food's back home."

"Food?"

"Yeah, you're hungry, right?" She glared at him, but he just grinned. She was hungry all right in more ways than one.

She followed him, sticking close to his side. The guards tried three times to separate them, the third time her claws dug into his arm and she wasn't letting go. He didn't wince at the pain, didn't want these assholes to know she'd hurt him. They needed to understand that he was still the alpha, still in charge.

A door opened, leading to an elevator, and again they tried to separate them, but a low growl got them to back off. He almost felt sorry for them, they had orders they had to obey, but he wasn't going to let them take her. Not now.

They had a lot of talking to do, once they ended up someplace private. He wasn't giving anyone the satisfaction of knowing he was the least bit concerned about anything but his empty stomach.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

She clung to him like he was the last person on earth. She knew they wanted to take her away, but he wasn't letting them.

The elevator ride was silent, and when the doors opened again, there was only one door, heavily guarded. Victor walked up to it, almost dragging her behind him. The guards stood there, and he let out another of those low growls that had her trembling beside him. One of the guards shrugged, and opened the door. She quickly followed him into the room behind the door, not noticing anything about it, other than it looked like the guards stayed outside.

The door slammed, and she heard a low humming noise coming from it, she turned to look at it, one hand extended to touch it.

"I wouldn't." He growled at her. "It's solid steel and electrified."

"Oh." She whispered. She'd never thought about how the kept him prisoner.

"So are the bars on the windows, and most of the rebar in the cement walls." He said as he walked into the kitchen. "They come in about once a week to stock the kitchen, the rest of the time I'm on my own."

She noticed the pile of books on the table in the living room.

"What are those?"

"Just my latest round of reading material; I think there's some De Sade in there if you're interested." She looked at him puzzled. "Oh, shit you don't even know who De Sade is."

He slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand and shook his head.

She stood near the door not really sure what to do.

"I'm cooking dinner," he said, "explore the place." She looked around. The living room was simple, and the pile of books were some she'd heard of, titles whispered in tones of awe, Huckleberry Finn, Sherlock Holmes, The Gold Bug, Treasure Island. And three books by someone called the Marquise De Sade, Justine, Or the Misfortunes of Virtue, 120 Days in Sodom, Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man.

She picked up a book and started flipping through the pages. She blushed at an image of a naked woman hung upside down by her feet, and a man holding a whip.

She shook her head, every one of these books was banned, but here he was, in the Theocratic Headquarters Building. Did that mean they weren't destroyed, or did he somehow get them from outside the country?

"You said something about me killing my parents." She said softly. She'd felt his rage at her about that. "They got out."

"What?" He glared at her as he dropped a piece of bloody meat into a skillet. Her stomach immediately grumbled she couldn't believe just how hungry she was.

"I was the distraction to get them and my best friend Megan out." She was sat down on the couch, completely deflated, all the energy and adrenaline from the Arena drained out of her.

"You set yourself up to get caught?" He said, and she could feel his confusion.

"After I made it look like I went berserk last night and killed all four of them." She said.

"You did…who the hell came up with this plan, it's almost brilliant?" He grumbled.

"I did!" She shouted at him.

"Calm down, Cub…I said it was almost brilliant, take the compliment and shut up." He grumbled. "So what exactly was the whole plan?"

"Mom had blood on hand in case any of us needed medical attention, so she drew a pint out of Megan so I'd have blood for all four of them to use trashing the house and scenting the sandbags I used to make it look like I'd dragged the bodies to the woods. I buried the sandbags under an unstable rockslide I knew about. That would give them about twelve hours to get out. They left at one in the morning on Wednesday. I knew I had until the Testing at lunch before anyone would go looking for them, and it would take at least a few hours to realize I'd tricked them."

He just stood there, looking at her.

"You gonna turn that meat, I can smell it starting to burn?" She said.

"Just keep talking." He growled. She heard the un-seared side of the steak hit the hot skillet.

"I killed two testers and six guards at the school. I knew they wouldn't let me go quietly, they'd put me in the Arena." She looked down at her hands. "Mom and Dad told me that they'd had my DNA tested, and that I had a ninety-eight percent chance of being your mate. I figured if that was true, you wouldn't want to kill me, and with my healing, that somehow you'd figure out a way for it to work."

She felt the growl before she felt his hands on her throat, lifting her up off the couch and slamming her into a wall.

"You fucking USED me…used my instincts to save your worthless little hide." He roared at her. "I should rip your damned guts out and hang you in the garden and watch as your body tries to heal with your intestines spread all over the ground."

She felt that part of her, the one that had slipped back to rest after the Arena, and couldn't believe what came out of her mouth. "But you won't, you need me."

"Don't bet on it, Hellcat." He growled. "Sabretooth doesn't need some almost jailbait frail." His face was within millimeters of hers, and she leaned forward, and kissed him, hard, biting his lower lip with her teeth. She felt the growl, the one that caused the warm tingles all over her skin and the cold shiver down her spine. He took control quickly, and her body responded in ways she didn't even know she knew.

He pulled back, his eyes black, and he dropped her to the floor. "Don't bet your life on it, Cub. I've lived without a mate this long; I can go on living without one."

"Really, is that why your neck scarred like that, because you don't need a mate? She also told me about the mutation, about how it progresses. She said you were beyond hope…somehow I don't think so." She picked herself up off the floor.

"Just shut the fuck up!" He growled, and turned back to the kitchen.

She pushed that wild part of her down. She could feel his rage, and every instinct said to lay low, submit and let him vent the rage his way.

"I like mine rare." She said softly.


End file.
